(1)

Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) establishes a common framework for producing, transmitting, evaluating and disseminating comparable rail transport statistics in the Union.

(2)

Statistics on the transport of goods and passengers by rail are necessary to enable the Commission to monitor and develop the common transport policy, as well as the transport elements of policies relating to the regions and to trans-European networks.

(3)

Statistics on rail safety are also necessary to enable the Commission to prepare and monitor Union action in the field of transport safety. The European Union Agency for Railways collects data on accidents under Annex I to Directive 2004/49/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) as regards common safety indicators and common methods of calculating accident costs.

(4)

It is important to avoid duplication of work and to optimise the use of existing information that is capable of being used for statistical purposes. To that end, and with a view to providing easily accessible and useful information to Union citizens and other stakeholders on rail transport safety and interoperability of the rail system, including the rail infrastructure, appropriate cooperation agreements on statistical activities should be established between the Commission's services and relevant entities, including at international level.

(5)

Most Member States transmitting passenger data to the Commission (Eurostat) under Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 have regularly provided the same data for both the provisional and final datasets.

(6)

A balance should be struck between the needs of the users and the burden on respondents when producing European statistics.

(7)

Within its Working Group and Task Force on rail transport statistics, Eurostat has conducted a technical analysis of the existing data on rail transport statistics collected pursuant to relevant binding Union legal acts and of the dissemination policy, in order to simplify as much as possible the various activities necessary for producing statistics, while ensuring that the final output remains in line with the present and future needs of users.

(8)

In its report to the European Parliament and to the Council on its experience acquired in applying Regulation (EC) No 91/2003, the Commission referred to the fact that long-term developments will probably result in the suppression or the simplification of the data already collected under that Regulation, and that the aim is to reduce the data transmission period for annual data on rail passengers. The Commission should continue to provide reports at regular intervals on the implementation of that Regulation.

(9)

Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 confers powers on the Commission to implement some of its provisions. As a consequence of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (‘the Treaty’), the powers conferred on the Commission under that Regulation need to be aligned with Articles 290 and 291 of the Treaty.

(10)

In order to reflect new developments in the Member States while, at the same time, maintaining the harmonised collection of rail transport data across the Union, and with a view to maintaining the high quality of the data transmitted by the Member States, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty should be delegated to the Commission in respect of amending Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 to adapt the technical definitions and to provide for additional technical definitions. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (4). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(11)

The Commission should ensure that those delegated acts do not impose a significant additional burden on the Member States or on the respondents.

(12)

In order to ensure uniform conditions for implementation of Regulation (EC) No 91/2003, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission as regards the specification of the information to be supplied for the reports on the quality and comparability of the results, and the arrangements for the dissemination of those results by the Commission (Eurostat). Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5).

(13)

The European Statistical System Committee has been consulted.

(14)

Regulation (EC) No 91/2003 should therefore be amended accordingly,

(1)

Article 3 is amended as follows:

(2)

Article 4 is amended as follows:

(3)

in Article 5(2), point (b) is replaced by the following:

(4)

Article 7 is replaced by the following:

(5)

Article 8 is amended as follows:

(6)

Article 9 is replaced by the following:

(7)

Article 10 is replaced by the following:

(*2)   OJ L 123, 12.5.2016, p. 1.’;"

(8)

Article 11 is replaced by the following:

(*3)  Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 February 2011 laying down the rules and general principles concerning mechanisms for control by Member States of the Commission's exercise of implementing powers (OJ L 55, 28.2.2011, p. 13).’;"

(9)

Article 12 is deleted;

(10)

Annexes B, D, H and I are deleted;

(11)

Annex C is replaced by the text appearing in Annex I to this Regulation;

(12)

Annex L, as set out in Annex II to this Regulation, is added.